Excommunication in the Decretales of Gregory IX

Abstract

Decretales of Gregory IX was the first promulgated collection of the general canon law. According to the system of Bernard of Pavia, the fifth book of the Decretales contains the criminal law. In the thirty-third title there are sixty capitula, which contain the excommunication sanctions. The excommunication was the punishment latae sententiae. Only the Pope could free himself from excommunication. If someone could not go to the pope, on a recommendation from the pope, a bishop or a presbyter could do it.